How big of a slab could I do by myself?

[quicksandfarmer]

I keep my tractor in a one-car garage in the winter. It's about 13'x18' on the outside, so 12x17 on the inside give or take. The floor is gravel, which is a pain because if I drop anything it's easy to lose. So I've been thinking about pouring a concrete floor. I spent some time calling around to concrete contractors in my area, but I guess it's a small job for them because when I say it's a one-car garage they lose interest.

So I'm thinking of pouring it myself. I've done a little bit of concrete work, the biggest pour I've done was 70 60lb bags, but I had my sons to help with that. For that I rented an electric mixer. This would probably be around twice that. I'm not afraid of the physical work, but what I'm afraid of is not being fast enough and ending up with an enormous mess when the concrete starts to set up before I'm ready.

So I'm looking for tips. It seems like one approach would be to do it in sections. Would it make sense to add a retarder? Since it's under roof I wouldn't have to worry about the weather, but would that invite other issues? Other thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[dodge man]

Is there a reason you wouldn’t order ready mix?

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Is there a reason you wouldn’t order ready mix?

I don't think a truck could access the garage.

I could move the concrete from the truck with my FEL. Probably 9-10 trips. If I can do the whole pour in one step I think that's the way to go. If I have to break it into sections I think mixing my own becomes more practical.

 

[CalG]

Working inside of walls doubles the "troubles" of placing, screeding and floating.

If I were to do such an area I would do so in sections no larger than 8 feet on the big side.

tips?

A 6 foot length of 3 inch steel pipe makes a very useful striking reference. It can be pulled along as the placing goes. Works against structure or out in the mid field.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, what are the walls made of? You really want or need something on the interior to screed from. If block, this can (should) be your expansion joint you nail to the inside bottom of the wall. If it's stick framed, you can place a leave in place, level 2x4 PT, and use that. Pole style buildings are more trouble inside. You can't really attach anything well to the inside od your metal panels, and your lowest purlion is typically atleast 8" up from the bottom

 

[zzvyb6]

I just helped a couple of gals make an 6' x 10' x 5-1/2" slab for their outdoor water boiler/furnace. We used a PTO carried mixer that holds 4 80# bags. Fill, add water, churn, transport and pour. So, I operated the tractor, one of them loaded the mixer, the other moved the dumped mix into position and leveled with a 2x4 and tossed in some re-rod. Cement + water is VERY heavy. Even with the loader, I had some trouble with steering their large JD farm tractor (2155 ?).
I've done a few slabs for barn aprons and sidewalks by myself, so it is possible, but I suggest you get some extra help. It's all about timing before the mix sets up. They bought a full pallet of cement from Menards to get a discount, had a few bags left over, but the slab came out perfect.

 

[paulsharvey]

For ammount of a pour and finish; 1 guy can do 6 yards pretty easily off a truck in a day, or about 1 yard wheel barrow mixing. Mudmixer or regular mix might increase a single man's production to about 2 yards (mudmixer might be 3 yards)

 

[2manyrocks]

There may be a max size you can pour and finish in a day assuming you are physically able to handle it, but what happens if something goes wrong or it's more than you can physically handle by yourself? I guess it could be hard to estimate how quickly you can finish the slab unless it's something you routinely do enough to know how fast you actually are at finishing? The bigger the project, the less time cushion I think you might have working by yourself.

Just my thoughts, and others may be able to offer better ideas.

 

[paulsharvey]

12x17x4"=68 CF=2.5 CY.

12x17x6"=102 cf=3.8 CY

have you Google searched for single yard redi mix, either pick up trailers, or delivered?

 

[paulsharvey]

Also, finish quality expectations matter. Are you good with a bull float and broom, or do you want to crawl the slab and steel trowel?

To me, shed floor, means bull float and broom finish, but some people want it glass smooth.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, IMO, 2.5 CY is too much to single pour even with a conventional mixer, and place and finish. You could easily divide it into 2 pours, pretty manageable, at 1.25 cy per pour, even if your hoe and wheel barrow mixing. Visqueen on the dirt/gravel will help prevent too fast (or uneven) curing. The fact that it has a roof means no direct sunlight; you probably should have plenty of time to finish, and it very well might be 10pm before your off the slab if you get the pour done by 2 pm, if temps are in the 50s/60s

 

[4570Man]

There’s no way I’d attempt a pour that size with bags by yourself. Even with a rental mixer which is the only way I’d even consider mixing 140 bags it would still be too slow. Mixing 140 bags in a wheelbarrow would be an absolutely brutal job that most people couldn’t finish on one go. Even loading 10,000 pounds of bags in a mixer is still a lot of work. You could call a truck and carry the concrete from the road in the tractor bucket. I’d still want a second person to drive the tractor. A 12x17 pad is still pretty big for an inexperienced person to try especially inside walls which makes it a lot harder. If you just want a hard spot to park on it might be ok but I wouldn’t go into it expecting quality results.

 

[Yander]

Are you sure they couldn't access it even with a pump? Those guys put concrete in some difficult places. I would measure and call them and see what they can do.

 

[paulsharvey]

Oh, you could surely pump it, but thats gonna be atleast $1k over the price of the concrete. For a 2.5yard pour, yiu could do a 6x17, an expansion joint, and do the other half another day.

I did a 24x16 shed pour with nothing but bags and wheel barrow, no mixer. Broke it into 4 pours, each 12x8 (1 cy); each a single pallet, solo. It's not fun, but it's 100% doable. I did 1 pour each weekend. At the time I didn't realize there is a guy with a 1 CY redimix trailer that will deliver for around $240/yard; or I would have called him. It's really worth searching I'd there is a similar business near you. It's 1.5x the cost per yard of a real truck, but no short load fees, easier to get a 3/4t truck and a 1 yard trailer into an area. Heck, even if you use 3 1cy loads, that's maybe 6 hours total, vs more like 3 solid days of mixing and pouring

Even having "passive" help is a lot of help, even if they just fill buckets with water, or pick up the empty bags.

 

[MossRoad]

I'd say you could do it if you had help. I'd get two strong people and use your tractor bucket to haul it from the mixer truck. Bags would be awfully hard.

When we did our garage addition, it was 24' x 24' x 5.5" thick.

I knew there was no way in heck my wife, 1 daughter, her fiancé and I could do that by ourselves. So I broke it into 3 pours of 24' x 8' and we did one each weekend. The cement truck could not get to the back of the garage due to a septic tank, so I used my little PT425 (weighs about 1500#) with 1/3 CY bucket to haul it around to the back. I figured out just how much I could put in the bucket without tipping it forward on its nose. It did not take that long.

The key was to have everything in place and ready to go, all prep done, the day before the truck comes. Once it's there, there's no turning back.

Also, the beauty of it was that I had to drive the tractor, and the 3 of them did the spreading, screeding, etc... wife was not too pleased. But she learned she can do it. Daughter and future son-in-law actually enjoyed it. I did most of the finishing.

Anyhow, the first pour was OK, but I noticed some small air pockets when I removed the form. So I bought a cheap concrete vibrator, and that made all the difference. The 2nd pour looked really good and by the last pour they just told me to shut up and drive. It looked really nice!

Anyhow, it cost less than half of what the concrete contractor was quoting. It took 3 weekends VS one afternoon. And I ended up with some nice concrete working tools.

Now this was just for a storage room. Just broom finished, not all that smooth. No one will ever critique it. But at 5.5" thick, it's not going anywhere. Used lots of rebar on chairs. Only two joints in it 24' long. No cracks in 3 years.

 

[dodge man]

Rent a buggy, that would shuttle the concrete from the truck to the pour.

 

[CalG]

Bench mark!

I had a slab poured under the car park this early spring, after parking on 3/4" stone for the past five years. 22 foot square... or so.

The young man who was the "contractor" and I did the prep with me running the tractor loader. The site was not level !

On the day of the pour, he had two additional "helpers". One was seasoned, the other ...not so much.
The truck arrived at 9 am. We were cleaning up at dusk.

A full day for four!

 

[bigtiller]

If you are under 40, a BFI under 20%, a strong back and a healthy set of lungs, you stand a good chance of success doing by your self. ​

The higher the numbers, the more help and work time you need.

 

[cj7]

Interesting topic. I dont have much experiece doing a large pour. But last year did a 10 x20 with ready mix. It was around the back of house and I hired 2 guys with a small pump trailer. My buddy and I did the final screed and bull float. The pump guys were well worth it. They even helped out more than just pumping the concrete. Was about 500 bucks.

 

[Runner]

I poured and finished the floor of my 18 x 24 pole barn by myself in 6, 6 x 12 pours. Used 1 cu yd concrete buggies from rental yard, floated and finished with trowel. Due to the proximity of the rental yard, the timing worked out so I could place the concrete, float, then clean out and return the buggy. By the time I got back from returning the buggy (half hour or so) the concrete was ready to trowel.

Just did one pour per day, strip forms, set up again, repeat process every other day until it was done. Took a while, but worked out good. Paid a few bucks extra for the 4,000 psi mix and so far (after 8 years) no cracks.

I was 58 at the time and I had to hustle to get each section done, but it was not too bad.